The Tinfoil Barb (Barbonymus schwanenfeldii) is a tropical freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family of cyprinid fish.

The Tinfoil Barb is silver, which looks like tin or aluminium foil. All of its fins are red – a red dorsal fin (back fin) with a black patch on the tip, red pectoral fins, red pelvic fins, red bottom fins, and red caudal fins.

It measures up to 35 centimetres (14 inches) long.

The Tinfoil Barb is native to south-east Asia, in the waters of Thailand, Indonesia, Borneo, and the Malay peninsula. It prefers freshwater rivers, streams, canals, rice paddies, and ditches.

It is herbivorous, eating plants and algae. Sometimes, it eats worms, crabs, shrimp, and insects.

The female Tinfoil Barb lays several thousand eggs, although fish eat most of them.

 

 

 

Location of photographs: Tbilisi Zoo, Georgia

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM